West Chester schools discuss student at-risk behavior

WEST GOSHEN — With drug and alcohol use prevalent among the country’s youth, parents in the West Chester Area School District took time Tuesday night to participate in a discussion on the issue and hear the risk factors that contribute to teen substance abuse.

Titled “Children at Risk,” the forum was a put on by a partnership between West Chester Communities that Care and the West Chester Area School District PTO Council.

The program, held at Henderson High School, included comments from district Superintendent Jim Scanlon, West Chester Mayor Carolyn Comitta and Christine Storm, representative from the Caron Foundation. After the comments, the 90 or so parents who attended were invited to participate with experts in a panel where they could ask any question on the issue.

“People wondered what are the signs and how do you talk to kids,” Scanlon said.

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In addition, Scanlon said some parents were concerned about how to talk with their children about their past experiences.

Participants discussed the results of last year’s Pennsylvania Youth Survey that is conducted every two years and given to sixth-, eighth-, 10th- and 12th-grade students in the district.

“Good news is that (the district) is below state and national averages in almost every category for drinking, smoking, drug use and belonging to gangs,” Scanlon said. “It’s not good enough to just compare numbers because when we get behind and below the numbers, we are talking about our young people and our future adults.”

According to Scanlon, the survey has been a part of the district since 2005. Generally, Scanlon said the data indicated the district was on the decline in most categories, but was higher than national averages in the area of binge drinking and alcohol use in the past 30 days.

To combat that, starting last year the organization began the social norms campaign, “stay classy and stay sober,” which was shaped by students in the district. The initiative targeted teen drinking and advised students to remain sober.

Throughout the campaign, T-shirts were handed out at school sporting events and students said the message was catching on among their peers.

The goal of Communities that Care is to discourage what it calls “problem behaviors” such as substance abuse, violence, dropping out of school, and teen pregnancy while promoting positive behavior.

On Tuesday, Scanlon highlighted the student assistance teams in the district and the partnerships with county agencies that provide help to families and students.

“When you hear that 19 percent of our 10th-graders smoke, you also need to hear that 81 percent of our students don’t smoke,” Scanlon said, applying the principle to the statistics across the board.

Scanlon said parents also must know about social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

“Even good kids make bad decisions — they are all at risk and we all need to be singing the same song to help them make better decisions.”